I will tell you all my favorite Stillen story. This will take me a while to type, and it's late, so I don't have a lot of time.
But, it's a good one, so I think I'll break down and try and tell it right.
This story is not my own. It comes from Tom Paule.
Now, as some of you who know me can attest, I am an Old ****. Tom is an even Older ****. So, some of you young guys may not remember all of this.....
But, way way way back, back when there wasn't much (if any) aftermarket support for the SE-R, there was Stillen. We still called them Stillen back then, because it was so long ago that we didn't know that their name was actually $tealin.
Anyhoo, back in the day, Stillen had a catelog listing all their parts for the SE-R. They also listed the HP increase that one could "Typically" (which, apparantly, means "never") expect to gain from each of these parts. For their intake (which is the same as the JWT POP charger), they listed a gain of 8 hp (!!). For their exhaust (which, incidently, is a piece of **** that rusted out after exactly *1* Michigan winter), they claimed 14 hp. They also claimed, in their catelog, that the intake plus exhaust yeilded *22 horsepower*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, a certain monkey named Tom Paule read this catelog with great interest. Tom called Stillen, credit card in hand, and bought the magic 22 hp intake and exhaust combo (setting him back about $500, IIRC).
Mr. Paule installed the parts, and, due to their increased noise level, noticed a "dramtic" increase in his cars performance.
One day, a guy showed up at his place of employment with a brand new bone stock SE-R. Mr Paule, cocky as hell with his 22 extra hp, told the guy "yeah, I've got an intake and an exhaust that gave me 22 extra hp, so *MY* SE-R is *REALLY* fast".
Of course, a race commences, which involves Tom getting his ass handed to him in a roll on, standing start, etc. Pretty much, Tom and his 22 extra HP lost every conceivable contest of speed to a bone stock SE-R.
So, he calls up Stillen, and says "WTF???!!! I paid you guys $500, and supposedly got 22 extra hp. My friend with a bone stock car kicked my ass *BAD*".
The sales guy at Stillen, without missing a beat, exclaims "Oh, yeah, now that you have all that extra power, your clutch is slipping. You need our clutch in order to get all that extra power to the ground".
So, the moral of the story, for all you kids who have played so much Mortal Combat that you have the attention span of a fruit fly, is that Stillen has been making money off the SE-R community by hook and by crook for,.... well, pretty much for as long as there has been an SE-R.
Let these assholes flounder. They deserve the HonDuh business that they've been trying to attract.
Rob
[This message has been edited by ClassicSE-R (edited 03-04-2001).]
